A convicted felon allegedly wrecked a stolen car, injured several people and led New Orleans police on a foot chase after they tried to pull him over for not wearing a seatbelt over the weekend.

Earl Simon

Earl Simon, 25, was booked with a dozen criminal counts after officers finally handcuffed him. He remained in jail Tuesday, unable to post $304,000 bail, according to Orleans Parish Criminal District Court records.

Officers riding a patrol car noticed Simon driving in what was described only as a white Dodge past the intersection of Ursulines and North Villere streets in Treme about 9:30 p.m. Saturday. He supposedly did not wear a seatbelt, so the officers flipped on their lights and siren and tried to stop him, police wrote in court documents.

But Simon did not slow down. He allegedly accelerated and turned on North Claiborne Avenue. As he sped down the street, he nearly plowed into a group of pedestrians crossing in front of him. He lost control of the car as he approached Kerlerec Street and struck a parked black car, hurting three men sitting inside, police allege.

Simon veered off and barreled into two nearby cars. He leapt out of the driver's seat, ran down the street and hopped over the fence. The police chasing him established a perimeter and began combing the surrounding area for him.

New Orleans EMS paramedics and firefighters soon arrived and found five people hurt in the incident. They treated four on scene, but one woman was trapped inside her car. Firefighters extricated her, and paramedics rushed her to Touro Hospital. Doctors later listed her in serious condition, police wrote in their report.

Meanwhile, investigators discovered signs that the extensively-damaged Dodge was stolen -- someone had defeated both the driver's door lock and the ignition, which had a small lock key forced into it.

A police canine unit eventually tracked Simon to a home in the 1400 block of North Roman Street. Officers arrested and jailed him on five counts of negligent injuring, three counts of simple criminal damage, and one count each of flight from an officer, endangering officers' lives, illegal possession of a stolen automobile and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. Court records show they also cited him for hit-and-run driving, disregarding stop and yield signs and not wearing a seatbelt.

"Simon showed complete disregard for the public at large," police wrote in the incident report.

Simon, whose listed address is in the 5100 block of Lakeview Court, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted armed robbery in 2003 and served a seven-year prison sentence. Investigators wrote that he had completed his parole not long before his arrest Saturday.